New exhibition at the Sayle Gallery for the TT period

by LC

As the Isle of Man prepares to welcome thousands of road racing fans to its shores, the Sayle Gallery is welcoming a new exhibition to its walls. The show is entitled, ‘Thirty-Seven and Three-Quarters’ and, unsurprisingly, it features the world famous TT course.

Countless photographs will be taken during this year’s TT festival of countless bikes, racers and other racing paraphernalia by countless amateur and professional photographers. Fewer people become fascinated by the road itself, in all its ordinary and yet extraordinariness throughout the year. Artist and photographer, James Marvin has done just that, creating a relationship with our extraordinary stretch of tarmac, through his study of what many of us take for granted.

Thirty-Seven and Three Quarters, shows the Isle of Man TT course out of season, taken between the 2015 and 2016 TT races. James has photographed the roads, road sides and surrounding landscape that the TT course occupies. Through a series of medium and large format photographs he provides a quiet and calm outlook on the course, turning away from the TT races as an event.

In James’ own words: ‘I became interested in the TT course, not the TT as a racing spectacle, but the road itself. I am fascinated by how the mountain course has shaped the land around it: by how the history of the road races has become imbibed in the road itself; by the many physical and even mythical impressions left by more than 100 years of the TT. The more I studied the road, the more I began to draw parallels between my practice and that of a racer’s. A rider’s success at the TT is dependent on a number of variables: speed, tyres, bike, brakes, surface, temperature, time of day, and state of mind. As a photographer, it was similar for me, except that my variables were: camera and tripod, shutter speeds and apertures, weather, light, time of day and state of mind. If we substitute the bike for a camera and tyres for film stock, for a photographer, the process of taking many pictures or by looking at the same corner for hours becomes analogous to a racer’s study of the circuit. For both photographer and racer, much study can go in to just one corner and for both photographer and rider all that study culminates in that corner being taken in a fraction of a second.’

Born in 1993 in Nottingham, England, James Marvin lives and works between Nottingham and the Isle of Man. Thirty-Seven and Three-Quarters is accompanied by an artist book of the same title. The work has been exhibited in the UK and published online as well as in print. The ‘Thirty-Seven and Three-Quarters’ publication is also held in the permanent collection of the International Centre of Photography Library, New York.